Barbara Rouse is 61 years young but she is very ill. She has been battling a disease called liver sarcoidosis for eight years. Despite her genuine efforts to heal, the disease has continued to become worse. A liver transplant is her only hope to stay alive. As you could imagine, the cost of a liver transplant is overwhelming and Barbara will need the support of family friends and community to ensure a successful outcome.
Barbara is one of the sweetest people you would ever hope to know. She grew up in the small town of Oak Ridge, TN. After Barbara completed high school and attended college for a short time at Middle Tennessee State University, in Murfreesboro, TN. She returned home where she eventually settled into a career working for Children’s Hospital in Knoxville, where she worked for eighteen years. She loved helping care for the children. Despite her illness, she continues to work as much as she can. She is now a caregiver to the elderly; she loves helping others. Unfortunately, the sarcoidosis will force her to have to stop working very soon. All of Barbara’s friends, including those she works with, attends church with, and all the members of her family, are committed to seeing her through this transplant to help her stay alive, including fundraising for the transplant.
Transplantation and follow up medications and treatments are very expensive. Even with some medical insurance coverage, there are so many co-pays, deductibles, travel expenses, office visits, temporary housing, and medication costs over and above the “covered” amounts. Costs to the patient can soar to $30,000.00 or more with the costly anti-rejection medications that she will be on for the rest of her life.
Because of these reasons, Barbara needs help to relieve these financial burdens that she cannot meet on her own. To help with the financial burden of Barbara’s uninsured expenses, a fundraising campaign in her honor has been established with HelpHOPELive, a trusted nonprofit organization that has been providing community-based fundraising guidance to patients and their families for more than 30 years. All donations are tax-deductible, are held by HelpHOPELive in the South Atlantic Liver Transplant Fund, and are administered by HelpHOPELive for transplant-related expenses only. Please consider making a contribution and give Barbara hope for the future.
On behalf of Barbara, we thank you in advance for your kind consideration, prayers, and support. Please keep an eye on this campaign page because we will be posting updates and on Barbara’s journey and planning some fundraising events soon.
With sincere gratitude,
The family of Barbara Rouse, rex-gass@att.net
